Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/1127

Rh MONUNIUS. MONTA'N US, ATTICI'N US, legatus in Tra- jan's reign to Liistricus Bruttianus (Mart, iv. 22), was accused by him of various misdemeanours, and of destroying the evidence which had been collected to prove them. Montanus brought against his accuser a counter-charge of malversation in his pro- vince. But it completely failed, and Trajan, who presided in person at the trial, condemned Mon- tanus to banishment. (Plin./i/).vi.22.) [W.B.D.] MONTA'NUS, CU'RTIUS, was accused by Eprius Marcellus in a. d. 67 of libelling Nero, The charge was disproved, but Montanus was ex- iled. At his father's petition, however, he was shrt]y afterwards recalled, on condition of abstain- ing from all public employments. In a. d. 71 Montanus was present in the senate, and, on Do- mitian's moving the restoration of Galba's titles and statues, he proposed that the decree against Piso also should be rescinded. At the same time Montanus veiiemently attacked the notorious de- lator, Aquilius Regulus. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 28, 29, 33, Hist. iv. 40, 42, 43 ) If the same person with the Curtius Montanus satirised by Juvenal (iv. 107, 131, xi. 34), Montanus in later life sul- lied the fair reputation he enjoyed in youth. (Tac. Ann. xvi. 28.) For Juvenal {11. cc.) describes him as a corpulent epicure, a parasite of Domitian, and a hacknied declaimer. Pliny the Younger addressed two letters to Curtius Montanus (vii. 29, viii. 6.) [W. B. D.] MONTA'NUS, JU'LIUS, a versifier of some repute in the reign of Tiberius, and one of the emperor's private friends. He is cited by Seneca the rhetorician {Coritr. 16), and by Seneca the philosopher {Ep. 122). (Ovid. Ep. ex Poiit iv. 16.11.) [W. B. D.] MONTA'NUS, JU'LIUS, was of senatorian rank, but had borne no office when unluckily meet ing Nero on one of his drunken nocturnal frolics, he defended himself and beat the emperor. The assault might have been overlooked, but Montanus recognised his assailant, and begged forgiveness. Nero then compelled Montanus to commit suicide, that he might not afterwards boast of the encounter. (Tac. Ann. xiii. 25 ; comp. Dion Cass. Ixi. 9 ; Suet. Ner. 26.) [W. B. D] MONTA'NUS, SP. TARPEIUS CAPITO- LI'NUS. [Capitolinus, p. 606.] MONTA'NUS, VOTIE'NUS, was an orator and declaimer in the reign of Tiberius. From his propensity to refine upon thought and diction, he was named the " Ovid" of the rhetorical schools. Seneca the rhetorician describes the eloquence of Montanus {Contr. Frooem. iv., excerpt, ix. 5), and cites him {Contr. 18, 20, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32). Montanus was convicted on a charge of majestas, and died an exile in the Balearic islands a. d. 25. (Tac. An7i. iv. 42 ; Euseb. Chron. a. 778.) [W. B. D] MONU'NIUS (Moj/ouVtos), a chief of the Illy- rian tribe of the Dardanians, whose daughter Etuta was married to the Illyrian king Gentius. (Liv. xliv. 30 ; Athen. x. p. 440, a.) The name is corruptly written in our editions of Livy Honu- nius; in those of Athenaeus, Menunius : the true orthography is learnt only from his coins, from which also it appears that he was master of the important Greek city of Dyrrhachium. (Eckhel, vol. ii. p. 157.) Probably Monius, which appears at an earlier period as the name of an Illyrian piiuce at w.ir with Ptolemy Cerauuus (Trog. Pomp. MORS I M US. 1113 Prolog, xxiv), is only another corruption of the same name, perhaps that of an ancestor of the preceding. (See Droysen, Hellenism, vol. ii. p. 171.) [E. H. B.] MO'NYCHUS, a centaur who is mentioned by Ovid {Met. xii. 499) and Valerius Flaccus (i. 145). [L. S.] MOPSUS (Mo'|/o$). 1. A son of Ampyx or Ampycus by the nymph Chloris ; and, because he was a seer, he is also called a son of Apollo by Himantis. (Hes. Scut. Here. 181 ; Val. Flac. i. 384 ; Stat. Tlwh. iii. 521 ; comp. Orph.^r*;. 127.) He was one of the Lapithae of Oechalia or Titaeron (Thessaly), and one of the Calydonian hunters. He is also mentioned among the combatants at the wedding of Peirithous, and was a famous prophet among the Argonauts. He was represented on the chest of Cypselus. (Pind. Pyth. iv. 336 ; ApoUon. Rhod. i. ^h ; Hygin. Fah. 14 ; Ov. Met. viii. 316, xii. 456 ; Pans. v. 17. § 4 ; Strab. ix. p. 443.) He is said to have died in Libya by the bite of a snake, and to have been buried there by the Argonauts. He was afterwards worshipped as an oracular hero. (Apollon. Rhod. i. 80, iv. 1518, &c. ; Tc^etz. ad Lye. 881.) 2. A son of Apollo (or according to Paug. vii. 3. § 2, of Rhacius) and Manto, the daughter of Teire- sias. He was believed to be the founder of Mallos in Asia Minor, where his oracle existed as late as the time of Strabo (xiv. p. 675 ; comp. Plut. d« Def. Orac. 45 ; Conon, Narrat. 6). [L. S.] MOIICUS (MopKos), an Illyrian, who, in b c. 1 68, was sent by Gentius, king of the Illyrians, to receive the hostages and the money which Perseus, king of Macedoniii, had engaged to give him as the conditions of his aid ag;^st Rome. [Gentius.] Morcus proceeded from the court of Perseus to Rhodes, where he was lodged in the Prytaneium, and persuaded the Rhodians to dechixe themselves neutral for the remainder of the war between Macedon, Illyricum, and Rome. (Polyb. xxix. 2. § 9, 5 § 1 ; Liv. xliv, 23.) [W. B. D.] MO'RIUS (Mopjos), that is, the protector of the sacred olive trees, occurs as a surname of Zeus. (Soph. Oed. Col. 705 ; comp. Liddell and Scott, Gr. Lex. s. v. Mopia.) [L. S.] MORMO {MopiJ.(a), a female spectre, with which the Greeks used to frighten little children. (Aristoph. Acharn. 582, Pax, 474.) Mormo was one of the same class of bugbears as Empusa and Lamia. [L. S.] MORMO'LYCEorMORMOLYCEION {Mop- fji.ovK7], MopjUoAu/cetov), the same phantom or bug- bear as Mormo, and also used for the same purpose. (Philostr. Vit. Apollon. iv. 25 ; Menandr. Feliq. p. 145, ed. Meineke ; Aristoph. Thcsm. 417 ; Strab. i. p. 19 ; Stob. Eclog. p. 1010.) [L. S.] MORPHEUS (Mopt^ej^s), the son of Sleep, and the god of dreams. The name signifies the fashioner or moulder, because he shaped or formed the dreams which appeared to the sleeper. (Ov, Met. xi. 635 ; Hirt, Mythol. Bilderh. p. 199.) [L. S.] MORPHO (Mop^w), or the fair shaped, occurs as a surname of Aphrodite at Sparta, She was represented in a sitting posture, with her head covered, and her feet fettered. (Pans. iii. 15. § 8 ; Lycoph. 449.) [L. S.] MO'RSIMUS (Mo'po-iMos), a tragic poet, the son of Philocles [Philocles], and father of Asty- damas. He is attacked and ridiculed more than once by Aristophanes, who classes with viliiuus of